you said yes, we can and we did. >> this is much more because this is much more than our moment, it's america's moment of renewal and purpose and optimism. we have journeyed together far and wide in this great campaign for america's future and now we're almost home. >> now it's decision day. president obama, one of the 32 million americans who took advantage of early voting, visits with campaign workers in chicago. >> we feel confident we've got the votes to win, but it's going to depend on whether those votes turn out. >> the romneys voting this morning in massachusetts before heading out for last-minute stops in ohio and pennsylvania. >> feel great about ohio. thank you. >> paul ryan cast his ballot in his hometown of janesville, wisconsin. >> are you all going to get a win tonight? >> i think we are. feel good about it.

>> and vice president joe biden voting in delaware, hinting this is not his last rodeo. >> any prediction for tonight. >> i'm feeling pretty good. >> last time you're going to vote for yourself? >> i don't think so. >> there's always 2016. happy election day. i'm andrea mitchell live at democracy plaza in rockefeller cent center. we've studied the polls, truth squatted the debates, argued the misleading ads, and now it's your turn. election day your turn to decide the future of our country. nothing more important than taking time to exercise that right, that obligation, that responsibility to participate in this great democracy. so joining me now for our daily fix, chris cizilla, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com and mark halperin, senior political analyst for "time" and msnbc. and before we move on to both of you, let's take a look at this moment on the tar mac in cleveland within the hour. an election day convergence of candidates from underneath air

force 2 in cleveland, you can see mitt romney's plane in the distance, paul ryan's plane also on the tarmac. all three right there in cleveland, ohio. chris cizilla, just why were they all going to ohio? can't imagine why. >> that's it. that image picture worth a thousand words right there. i mean, we've talked about this and we've talked about it. i really do think ohio is the linchpin for both sides actually. i do think barack obama retains more paths to 270 electoral votes, true yesterday, true a week ago, true probably six months ago. he clearly does. but ohio is absolutely mitt romney must have it and i would say barack obama in a lot of ways to make his math add up if he doesn't win florida and doesn't win virginia needs it too. i went through and did the most likely scenarios for both sides and didn't realize i had done this, someone pointed out, the only difference between the two maps was ohio. one had barack obama winning one had mitt romney winning. i think obama remains a slight

advantage particularly in those swing states but they are in ohio for a reason because it matters the most. >> ask you both what to watch for in the early returns. the polls are going to close, the first polls at 7:00, what are you going to be looking at? >> look for tea leaves in battleground counties not just? swing counties but counties where one side needs to run up the score big if they have a chance. virginia and ohio the two linchpins to this election. ohio the key to the race as chris suggested because if mitt romney found a way to win ohio suddenly the electoral advantage slips on its head. if he wins ohio he will be in the driver's seat. virginia counts quickly. i'm worried ohio will have the irregularities ties to put us i the late night or beyond. if mitt romney doesn't win virginia there's a path but not a great one. >> which counties to both of you, where in virginia would you be looking to lynchburg? down to the tiedwater area, norfo norfolk? >> can i -- >> there are swin counties but virginia is a case where swing counties and also counties where

one side or the other must run up a big score. if they're going to have a chance to win. the counties outside washington, around washington, are the most important in terms of the swings. >> and also for president obama -- i was going to say, chris cizilla. >> yeah. >> the richmond area, richmond city is very important for president obama to run up big returns. >> president obama, northern virginia, richmond city, hampton roads, large african-american population. i would say mark is exactly right in terms of virginia is a battleground all across the state. two counties that i keep an eye on, maybe just because they're close to where i live, but prince william and louden, these are suburban washington, d.c. counties. president obama won both of them in 2008. in 2009, bob mcdonnell the governor of virginia and a republican won both of them. that suburban vote as it relates to northern virginia is critically important to both -- it's more important to mitt romney. he has to i think carry those two counties because we already

know in the kind of inner suburbs, northern virginia arlington and parts of fairfax county barack obama is going to win overwhelmingly. it's those areas to keep an eye on. >> mark halperin, you've been talking to the campaigns, out recently in ohio and in virginia with president -- former president clinton and president obama. you've seen the emotion on both sides. what are you hearing today from the campaigns? >> i've talked to people who talked to the pollsters for both campaigns today. not people who work directly for the campaign but close associates with access to pollsters. a fundamental difference and reflects what we've seen. the president's team, given they acknowledged they're in a close race, they're certain they're going to win. show no weakness, no doubt they're going to win. the most confident i've seen a presidential career in my career with the exception of president clinton's campaign in 1996 and they were not in a close race. people on the republican side say we can win, might win, some say i think we're going to win. the degree of confidence with few exceptions is not nearly as

high in the romney camp as it is across the board and in the obama camp remember we're dealing with people like joel bennett and david axelrod and plouffe and not people who easily say we have this in the back. they sweat every detailed and are supremely confident. >> mark halperin and chris cizilla. of course axelrod has reason to worry because he doesn't want to shave off that mustaf, the joe scarborough bet. before the president made his way home to chicago he made one campaign stop where his journey to the oval office began. iowa. >> iowa, i'm not ready to give up on the fight. i've got a lot more fight left in me. but to wage that fight on behalf of american families, i need you to still have some fight in you too. >> and joining me now from chicago, robert gibbs, senior adviser to the campaign. the president's former press secretary and robert, i think

you were with them last night in iowa. and again today in chicago. so tell me about the emotion because we saw the tear there, there was even a twitter account started on obama's tear, the president's tear. he did seem very emotional, as did the first lady last night. >> i was back stage with him right before he went out and you could tell he was soaking it all in and understanding this was the last event he was going to do. it was in the state that sort of began it for him in very early 2008, so i know it was an emotional journey yesterday. it culminated in iowa. . it had a terrific crowd. you could feel the energy and excitement. you saw the passion in what the president was talking about yesterday in terms of finishing the job that he was elected to do and we think we're going to have a good night and do that for the next four years. >> mark halperin just reporting on the supreme confidence of your colleagues and former colleagues there. and we know that this is a close

race that's what all the polling tells us, that's what we pick up anecdotally, why so much confidence? because of the organization that was built? those are computer models. that doesn't really involve, you know, real people and the emotions of people who decide to vote or not to vote on election day. >> well, i would say a couple things. first, if we look at our early vote numbers, i was in ohio yesterday for our second of three stops, you know, talking to our state director, they felt really great about where they were. they were telling the president how the republicans were bragging in ohio that they had spent sunday knocking on 75,000 doors, state director told the president that he knocked on 375,000 doors. so, yeah, we feel pretty good about our operation. we feel pretty good about our early vote. look, i think this race for all of the public polling has been remarkably steady for the last three or four weeks and the president has had a steady lead in almost all, if not all of these nine battleground states.

look, i think if you're the romney campaign, you wake up today, and there's not one of those nine in the battleground states you can say with 100% certainty they're going to win today. so look, i think they've got a much harder path. i think we feel confident because the president has had a strong message about what we're going to do over the course of the next four years. a great ground operation. and a lot of people that have been working tirelessly just for today. >> if you all are that confident, why send bill clinton back to pennsylvania, four stops in pennsylvania, including two in philadelphia last night? >> well, andrea, you know, president clinton has been a wonderful campaigner for this president. it is a -- we owe him a huge debt of gratitude. if they're going to put resources in pennsylvania we'll match their resources to make sure that we're doing fine in pennsylvania. i feel supremely confident about pennsylvania. i can assure david axelrod as i did this morning before he did "morning joe" that you'll be

able to hold on to that mustache another 40 years if you want to. we feel good about where we are. look, i would say one thing to anybody that's listening to this, you're hearing stories about long lines, you're hearing stories about big turnout, go get in that line. if you're in that line when the polls close, you'll be allowed to vote. go get in that line and go exercise right to vote. make your voice heard in a crucial election. >> how is the president feeling about it all today? you were with him when he was doing some interviews, satellite interviews with affiliates, local stations around the country? >> you know, be he feels good. he feels relaxed. you know, look, he started his morning at 7:30 with a conference call with fema on hurricane sandy. he taped a bunch of radio calls yesterday. did tom joiner this morning. 10 satellite interviews this afternoon. and we didn't want to tell him this on the plane but he's going back to do satellite this afternoon. between that playing some basketball. he's busy but relaxed. again, i think he feels he's in

a good place. we have made the case in this race for building this economy from the middle out, moving this economy forward, and juxtapose that with mitt romney's theory of extending tax breaks to the wealthiest as a way of building our economy and we know what happened the last time we did that, it ended in economic devastation. we have a strong case that we're making today on election day. >> and finally, robert, if the president is fortunate enough to be re-elected, what do you think his first priorities are, especially since most likely if he is re-elected it's go to be a status quo, potentially a democratic still, but most certainly a heavily partisan and republican house. >> right. well look, i think first and foremost, everybody understands the fiscal cliff issues that we have to deal with over the course of the 70 days after the election that all the bush tax rates are expiring, you know, that we have sequestration cuts we're looking at. i will say this, this election

when the president's re-elected should break this fever of washington gridlock. it is time that republicans come to the table and understand that we've got to get something done on the big pressing issues of our time that can no longer just say no, no, no. it's time to come and work with this president and get something done on behalf of the american people to make sure our country's safe, strong and secure. >> robert gibbs, thank you so much for taking time on election day. good luck to you and your campaign. >> thank you. >> and up next, the other side of the story, former mississippi governor haley barbour. msnbc election night coverage kicks off tonight at 6:00 eastern with al sharpton, ed schultz, lawrence o'donnell and steve schmidt and more "andrea mitchell reports" coming up next live from democracy plaza ahead on msnbc.

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. this is a special moment for ann and for me because this is where our campaign began. you got this campaign started a year and a half ago at the farmp. tomorrow your votes and your work right here in new hampshire will help me become the next president of the united states. >> after a nearly eight-year quest for the presidency voters today will decide whether mitt romney achieves his dream of reaching the oval office. joining me now former mississippi governor and romney supporter haley barbour. thanks for being with us. good to see you. let's talk about the romney road to 270. how do you see it shaping up today?

>> well, despite what some people say, there are several states that can fit together. i believe romney will carry indiana, which obama carried last time, north carolina, florida and virginia. i believe he will carry ohio, he's got a very good chance to carry wisconsin and colorado. i believe he will carry new hampshire. pennsylvania, i worry they may have started a little too late, but clearly pennsylvania is in play. if one candidate wins ohio and pennsylvania, andrea, which ever one it is, that one is going to be president. if they split, then these other states start making a difference. certainly romney has to carry florida, north carolina, and virginia and indiana. and i think he will carry all of those. but the -- then you have to make up a few more votes that is not just one combination, despite what you might hear.

there are several combinations to make up those votes. >> indeed there are. one question that some are suggesting they did not best utilize the pick of a running mate from wisconsin, paul ryan. ryan's voice has been muffled and wisconsin has not been a big enough play for them. what do you say to that? you're a former republican national chairman? >> i'm in the going to critique anybody's campaign but i think paul ryan was a good choice. it brought to people's attention in an emphatic way this was an election about big issues and the obama campaign had for months and months and months tried to make the election about bain capital, about the fact that in there rendition of it, mitt romney was a lieu toe plutocrat, he was a vulture capitalist, didn't care about people like you, was married to a known equestrian and that was the level of campaign advertisement people saw until paul ryan. and i don't think it was a

coincidence that the surge for romney in august started before the convention, it really started when ryan got picked. and i do think wisconsin is very much in play in this election. >> one other argument is that the republican primaries, and this would have been true arguably if the democrats had not inhabited the white house, they would have had problems on their left, let's say, but that the republican primaries were so bogged down in moving to the right and in candidates who were not really national candidates, you can take your pick of some of the people who were in the race at various times, that it really did hand cuff mitt romney and that he waited too long to pivot and to make the move that he made during the debates and that romney you're seeing now is far more electable than the romney we saw during the primaries. what say you? >> i thought our nomination contest was not helpful to anybody. i didn't think it made anybody

look good. to have 25 debates is one bad idea. a second bad idea let the liberal media control the debates. if you're going to have the debates let them be sponsored by the heritage foundation -- >> wait a second. some of those debates were cosponsored by the republican parties, state parties, that's why you had cheering sections. >> they were controlled by the news media. >> well -- >> but -- i accepted your point. take yes for an answer. i think that the primary contest did not help romney or really make any of them look very good. >> i'll tell you what i am hopeful about that is surprising to me. you're familiar with the battleground poll taken by democratic pollster linda and it's been done for years and years, they just published their day before poll like every election year, i was struck, 34% of people who were surveyed reported they had already voted

and, of course, that's a record, we knew it was going to be, but of the early voters, 50% had voted for romney and 46% for obama. 4% lead for romney. to hear the democrats talk obama's going to carry the early voting 65 to 35 if romney's lucky, so that was something that was another thing that gave me a very happy outlook for today since that is clearly a bipartisan poll. >> thank you very much, haley barbour, always good to talk to you, especially on election day and good luck to your side as well. >> thanks, andrea. >> what is it like for the candidates on election day. behind the curtain with a veteran campaign strategist bob shrum. >> the pollsle in ohio are closing at 7:30 eastern. as we've said that time we may be able to call a race. a big indicator of which way the night is going. more ahead on "andrea mitchell reports" live from democracy plaza on msnbc. lays ]

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i also want to say that governor romney, congratulations on his spirited campaign. i know that his supporters are just as engaged and just as enthusiastic and working just as hard today. we feel confident we've got the votes to win, but it's going to depend ultimately on whether those votes turn out. >> president obama at a campaign office in chicago today. in a departure from the election day norm mitt romney is making a few last campaign stops heading to a final event in pittsburgh at this hour while paul ryan swings by richmond, virginia. president obama has been doing satellite tv interviews in key states and all of the candidates, all three, vice president biden, paul ryan and mitt romney all in cleveland, ohio, earlier today. veteran democratic strategist bob shrum joins me now. we're seeing a lot of last-minute campaigning and i'm not sure how you read these last efforts by particularly the

republicans but also vice president biden stopping in cleveland on his way to chicago. >> read it in one of two ways. either they think they can't crack ohio, going to keep making an effort there, expand the map, go to pennsylvania, do something in wisconsin and minnesota or you can say they think they're on the edge in pennsylvania and ohio and that's why they're in both places. normally you wouldn't be there. the last candidate i remember who went to pennsylvania on the last day was george h.w. bush in 1992. i don't think that necessarily works for you. i don't know that you get a lot of votes at this point. >> there's been a lot of talk about momentum on both sides and energized crowds in both campaigns, particularly the romney campaign seemed to have, you know, arguably a lot of passion on their side, obama campaign supremely confident in their modeling and their computerized get out the vote efforts. how do you see it as a probe? >> well, listen, i think that the obama campaign, you have to

be nervous on a day like this, but they're having an easier day than the romney campaign. i think that the structure of the race, the electoral map, the get out the vote operation, what we know about early voting, although now you're getting tweets from different people claiming different things about early voting, all points to the likelihood the president wins and when i talk to people in that campaign, it's genuine. they're not trying to spin me. on the other hand when i talk to some republicans, not people in the romney campaign but republicans, but republicans, talk to me they'll say, we may be -- we kind of think we might fall short good shot in virginia, ohio is the unknown. ohio was your heartbreak. >> yeah. >> 118,000 votes and it would have been president john kerry. >> switch half a football stadium and, you know. >> and there were people lined

up and all sorts of voting problems. >> right. >> people waited -- >> people waited eight to ten hours to vote and many of them left and never did vote. >> which -- and arguably if you're having people wait eight to ten vote that is a poll tax. >> we ought to do something about it. it's disgraceful. the policies pursued in places in ohio by this guy john hussted the secretary of state, an attempt to deny the right to vote to people to minorities especially, and to students, and, you know, we fought this battle in the 1960s. we shouldn't have to fight it again. >> after 2000 and that was another of your great heartbreaks. >> yeah. i think we won. >> so after 2000 and 2004, we talk about nationalizing the election system and it never happens because states want to retain control of that system. >> we had somebody in pennsylvania i think he's the leader of the state assembly who said we passed this i.d. bill which was thrown out by a

court at least for this election because we want to help governor romney win pennsylvania. i.e., we want to disenfranchise people who tonight have the kind of i. -- who don't have the kind of i.d. who may be poor or minority that would tend to vote for barack obama. i don't know that we're going to deal with this problem until we have a real crisis. hopefully this election when we're done tonight will be settled. we won't be in the courts. we won't be going day after day. i can tell you they're sitting there now, this is the longest day of the campaign. a 24-hour day of campaigning is nothing like the 12, 15, 16 hours you go through on this day and people bring you exit polls, sometimes the exit polls are wrong, you don't know what to believe. we have this new phenomena now of the partisan pollster, people we never heard of before, poll states and get results different from everybody else's. so the comforting thing is, hopefully some time tonight or early in the morning we'll know what the outcome is.

i'm way out on a limb and written in "the daily beast" the president is going to win and laid out the membershiistakes i the romney people made. >> we love the fact you're here and you have this new role you've been doing several years now, teach at nyu and all these students that can learn from you and hopefully learn to vote. >> thank you. >> and to the practice. >> thank you so much, bob shrum. up next, decision day, our team coverage, our reporters on the ground in key states and send me your thoughts on facebook and twitter @mitchellreports. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on election day only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] at scottrade, we believe the more you know, the better you trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade,

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constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. welcome back to this election day coverage of "andrea mitchell reports" our correspondents in key locations around the country. kelly o'donnell live from ohio, kristen welker at president obama's election headquarters in chicago, peter alexander at mitt

romney's head quarters in boston. nbc's ron allen outside city hall in new jersey. here in the northeast, of course more than 1 million homes and businesses remain without power and tomorrow night's anticipated nor'easter still on track to hit the same areas as sandy hit, those already displaced by the storm are bracing for yet another blow. more power outages potentially, more coastal flooding. here in new york city fema is considering bringing in trailers and prefab houses after the hurricane. katrina, more than 20,000 people are homeless. on the jersey shore homeowners working away at clearing out muddy water and sand that's enveloped their homes, all this as voting is getting under way and as we say ron allen is in hoboken new jersey outside city hall. let's talk about the cleanup and how it's affecting the voting, ron. >> well, the ta got off to a rough start in some places like here in hoboken, for example, there are instances of voting sites that didn't have power, that needed generators or they

had generators, didn't have fuel. a similar situation out in staten island and in long island, new york, hard hit places by the storm. here at city hall they've consolidated voting places, now two here where there's usually one. but the bottom line is people are making their way do the best they can to vote and anecdotally it seems turnout is brisk here and in the new york area. at the end of the day, a lot of power came back on and this town, for example, hoboken, that was hard hit, about 90% of the city has power and that's helped a lot. so across new jersey, there are about 100 polling places that had to be moved, in new york about a similar number. a lot of what the anticipated problems didn't happen. there's also been a lot of talk about e-mail and fax voting here in new jersey which the governor authorized for people who have been displaced by the storm. when you say faxing and e-mail voting, a lot of people say that's great that's what i would love do. a lot of voting security experts

concerned about fraud and also about the precedent this might set, getting ahead of ourselves and how we vote. there's a rule that requires people voting by fax and e-mail to submit a paper ballot as well. the bottom line they're trying to make it as easy as possible to vote in new york and new jersey and people seem to be taking advantage of it. >> ron allen, thanks for that update. now to battleground ohio, kelly o'donnell live in columbus. the polls close at 7:30 in ohio and it could be a long night, indeed, if it's as close as it has been predicted. >> well, andrea, there's certainly a lot of enthusiasm here. there are four precincts that are voting at this one location and we've seen at different times today, some long lines, especially sort of the before work crowd. it tapered off a bit, but people seemed to be able to get in and get out. we've seen lots of families coming, kids getting to see the process up close with moms and dads. a lot of enthusiasm. more broadly, we're hearing from both campaigns about their

relative confidence about what's happening in ohio. the obama team has stressed to us they have had a structure in place with lots of offices making it easy for volunteers to work the phones and help out. we've met some of those today who want to maximize voter turnout. we're hearing from team romney in ohio that they believe that there is a strong voter turnout in communities that they say could benefit the governor. in more suburban communities, places where they believe they have voters. the operation to get out the vote can be so complicated that they can get an idea of who has voted and when they have volunteers ready can disperse to a neighborhood where they think people haven't gotten to the polls yet to get them out. later on today we'll be at the secretary of state's location in downtown columbus. he will be overseeing the results. wondering if it's going to be a long night, how long we don't know, but ohio is key. >> ground zero. thank you so much, kelly. >> peter alexander, a long road for you at romney campaign headquarters in boston.

what is the emotional state and these rallies have been extraordinary and wrapping it up in new hampshire where it all began? >> yeah. andrea, first of all last night was a unique event. you could see the emotion in ann and mitt romney as they took the stage in front of about 10,000 people that packed this arena in manchester, a moment when ann walked to the podium and paused and said wow. i clocked it. a standing ovation that lasted roughly 3 and a and a half minutes. we haven't seen anything like that over the course of the campaign. they feel confident. one of the top advisors to governor romney telling us a short time ago that we will win ohio. he said. if we come out live now, want to give you a sense of what the election night headquarters will look like tonight, pan the camera this direction. a brief look around. as the course of the last several months we have heard routinely governor romney would attack president obama for the greek columns he had up during the democratic national

convention four years ago, well this place is a whole lot more modest in terms of the setting than that but they expect to have a large crowd tonight. governor romney we're wlerning from reporters traveling with him he'll be back here shortly after 7:00 with stops in ohio and pennsylvania, gone to one of his campaign headquarters to say thank you to the folks there, stopped by a wendy's. we're told he orderd a quarter pounder no cheese chili and a milk shake for a guy that eats almost exclusively organic, i'm suspect. >> carbing up. >> kristen welker in chicago. krist kristen, a basketball game that reggie love has organized so that is the preelection routine. the president has done some interviews with affiliates around the country. >> that's absolutely right. that election day basketball game is an election day tradition for president obama and i'm told actually that he e-mailed his former body man

reggie love last week to ask him to start setting up that game. campaign advisors say this is a moment that is filled with a lot of anticipation but also a lot of nostalgia, thinking back to four years ago when this all began. of course, president obama the first lady holding that incredibly emotional event last night in iowa. that is the state that delivered them their first victory back in 2008. mr. obama shedding a tear last night, and embraced the first lady for several seconds before he spoke to an incredibly energized audience. today, andrea, it is all about getting out the vote. mr. obama stopped by one of his campaign headquarters here in chicago, thanked volunteers for all of their hard work, and emphasized the importance of getting out the vote. the obama campaign feeling confident in its strategy. what they are hoping to do is get some of the numbers they saw back in 2008 and in terms of their core constituents including african-americans, latinos, women, young voters,

they need those voters to turn out in force to win this and they are feeling confident heading into this evening. >> kristen welker at obama campaign headquarters in chicago, thanks so much. our strategy session with bill burton. this is "andrea mitchell reports" live from democracy plaza on msnbc. ♪

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either chief executive the looming fiscal cliff. joining me bill burton former deputy white house press secretary and co-founders of priorities usa and michael steele msnbc analyst and former republican national chairman. bill burton you were involved in one of the super pacs on behalf of the president. it's been very edgy on both sides accusations of false advertising, both campaigns. what about the fact that somebody's going to be elected president, we hope we'll know tonight or tomorrow, at the latest, and then how do you begin negotiating with the political opposition? >> well, i think, you know, a lot of money has been spent in this election and i think people will have a lot of questions afterwards as to whether or not over on the republican side hundreds of millions of dollars weren't just wasted to no affect whatsoever. we feel like we were able to have an impact and feel good about that. if you look at what's going to happen after this election there are huge problems looming for when the president is re-elect

the and i think that him sitting down with speaker boehner and, you know, harry reid and trying to figure out what the best path forward is in a way that actually breaks some of the logjam in washington and gets a deal on this fiscal cliff is going to be right at the center of -- right at the center of what happens right afterwards. besides that you've got the recovery from hurricane sandy the president will have to deal with as well. there are big issues that need to be taken on immediately. >> michael, we've been hearing from one side, harry reid, from the other, i talked to eric cantor yesterday, no give on their going in positions. >> no. >> but after an election, do things get real, real fast? >> things get real in a hurry and bill's touched on a couple of them. the fiscal cliff is just the beginning of the many cliffs that the next president will face and i think what will happen and i would agree with bill to this extent the day after the inauguration whether a president romney or president

obama, they call harry reid if he's still the majority leader and call speaker bainer if he's still the speaker into the oval office, no cameras, no press, no highfalutin photo op and get real about solving the problems we have to face. the bush tax cuts, the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling all these things will be on that desk waiting and the president and his administration are going to have to come clean and honest and say gentlemen, this is going to be executive leadership here. i'm the commander in chief of our military and i'm going to be the commander of chief of our economy and recovery and these are things i need out of the house and senate to get this done. i don't think we can afford to wait another four years for that to happen, so this is a real moment. >> you're not going to be able to wait until january 20th. this has to be done in a lame duck or something at least postponed, action. >> there will be action. i think there's going to be a little kicking of the can down the road in the lame-duck

session as things sort of get sorted out with the leadership and i think bill would probably agree that whether it's in the center of the house, everybody is going to be scrambling to see who lines up where but once that settles they will get serious. i don't expect a lot except for the short term we've got to deal with this, push it down six months and refigure out what we're going to do in march, april next year. >> bill burton the international markets may not give whoever is elected presidents a lot of time. >> i don't think there's going to be a lot of time. the hope has to be and i'm with chairman steele that, you know, there hasn't been a great track record of congress working with the president to make progress and everybody being able to agree on what to come next but coming out of an election will at least have a circuit breaker moment in this country where people in washington, our leaders, the president and congress, can get something big done, hopefully right away. the track record hasn't been such with the president working

with this congress, but that is the hope, because there's big problems and it's a moment where -- that can be seized to do big things. >> we only have a few seconds left, but isn't it your sense as well, both of you, that the real issues that are going to face whoever gets elected have not really been debated and discussed as intensely as they needed to be during this campaign some. >> well, on the fiscal cliff i think that really has not been a huge part of -- a huge part of the conversation. immigration was a part of the conversation. i think that that's going to be one of the issues that the president faces come next year. that wasn't a huge part of what people were discussing either because mitt romney was so far to the the right on those issues i think that it -- the lines were drawn very early on that. i think you make a good point, maybe some of the biggest things that will be taken on weren't a biggest part of the coverage of what was happening. >> both candidates ducked real arithmetic in terms of what they're going to be facing.

>> simpson-bowles was left on this table by the administration. it was a leadership moment for the president to take up and put the romney team on the defensive a little bit. that was passed up. certainly there are other issues as well. i think to the broader point, big things need to big things n to come out of this between the election and the inauguration with the heavy lifting and the good work that needs to be done coming january 22nd. >> michael steele, thank you so much. bill burton, thanks to you. up next, chris alissa with final thoughts about the next 24. what we'll know and what we're be talking about tomorrow. first a look at awhere the polls are closing at 8:00 eastern tonight, and we'll be right back. humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans.

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we know which story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours today and tomorrow. chris is back with us.

chris, what are you looking at, and what are the earliest signs that you're going to be watching as you go into fotomorrow? >> if you can't tell already, andrea, i'm very excited. election day is like my birthday and christmas and wedding anniversary wrapped into one. this is a wonderful day. it's a good day for democracy. this is a wonderful day to express what we cover every day. it's awesome. what am i looking for? virginia, ohio, florida. all the polls in those states close before 8:00. there are a few polls in florida that state open on the panhandle until 9:00. if mitt romney can't win florida, he almost certainly won't r president. if he doesn't win virginia, florida and ohio it's stuff. watch those three states. he has to win at least two of those three, probably three of those three so when we go westward to iowa, wisconsin, nevada, colorado, for it to be a

relevant, plausible path for him to get to 270 electoral votes. i still think ohio, virginia and without florida, ohio and virginia probably don't matter. >> let's hope we're not bogged down in electoral challenges in florida and ohio with all the lines. >> a clean vote is what we want where everyone who wants to vote is able to vote. the most important thing. i also think a clean result, in that it's very clear one side or the other. you might not like the result, but it's clear more people voted and more electoral votes went to one of the two candidates. i think that's probably a good thing for whether you're a partisan on the left or right. >> don't forget, house races, senate races, governor races, ballot initiatives, a lot to vote for. take your time and vote. that does it for us on this edition on election day on andrea mitt he chel reports.

next stephanie cutter and chris van hollen and my xlej subpoena here next. make sure you vote. we'll be here all day and night with results. we're going to try to stump some political junkies with questions from bing elections. do you know where your polling place is? maybe somewhere around my house. mine's just, right over that way. well you can find out exactly where it is using bing elections. it's a good day for politics. which way do you lean politically? conservative. republican. well, using the bing news selector you can find news from whichever way you lean. (together) social on this side, financial. which party is currently predicted to win a majority in the senate? the republicans? would you make a bet on that? no. are you chicken? johan comes in a porcelain vessel, crafted with care by a talented blonde from sweden. ♪ smooth, rich, never bitter, gevalia.

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in those mini-wheats® biscuits... to help keep you full... ♪ 45 bushels of wheat on the farm. 45 bushels of wheat! ♪ ...all morning long. there's a big breakfast... [ mini ] yeehaw! ...in those fun little biscuits. hello, everyone. i'm tamron hall. the "news nation" is following the moment truth. after all the polls, pundits and predictions, the power is with the people. people have been waiting in lines ever since the polls opened this morning. this as both campaigns are still on the ground hours before the first polls close. team romney making an unprecedented three campaign stops on election day in ohio, pennsylvania, and virginia. the governor and his running mate, paul ryan, are on the ground in cleveland. it's the ticket's last stop together before going their separate ways. the gover